Archive for 2013
Tips For Long-Distance Driving
Australia has well over half a million kilometres of road, so we’re lucky enough to be able to answer the call of the road and just head out to drive and drive and drive. It’s a road trip paradise, where you can drive through 35 degrees of longitude (or three time zones) without any hassles with passports and visas and all the rest of the palaver involved with driving long distances in places like Europe, where 35 degrees of longitude will take you through a minimum of five countries (the route that covers this many lines on the map crossing the least borders will take you through France, Germany, Poland, Belarus or Ukraine and Russia).
Some people go on long road trips for fun – for them, the trip there is part of the holiday or even the holiday itself. For others, it’s more of a necessity, as their job requires it, or the family is so big that it’s cheaper to shove everyone in the Honda Odyssey and drive from A to B rather than flying. But no matter what your situation is, it pays to be prepared and possibly even to change your driving style.
- If possible, don’t drive alone. Have someone with you who will be able to share the driving or, at the very least, help relieve the monotony of the more boring bits of scenery by talking to you, or scream loudly if you look like you’re falling asleep at the wheel.
- Stay hydrated. No matter how good your air-con system is, you are going to need fluids. It’s a mistake to limit your fluid intake while driving long distance so you don’t have to stop to pee all the time. If you’re dehydrated, you may end up making dumb decisions. OK, don’t guzzle vast quantities but don’t underdo it.
- Plan to stop for a break here and there rather than doing it all in one long bash. Have a look at the map before you set out and have a think about where would be a good spot for a break. However, your stops along the way don’t have to be at settlements – you can stop in the middle of nowhere and admire the sheer expanse of the world.
- Fatigue is your enemy, especially on a long straight stretch of road. Taking breaks and sharing the driving can help relieve the fatigue, but there are a few other tips that help. Avoid eating carb-heavy meals, as these often make you feel sleepy. Also don’t use some driver aids such as cruise control, as if you’re more active in your driving, you’re less likely to nod off.
- Caffeine is a double-edged sword. It may make you more alert but it will also stimulate your bladder.
- Be prepared for the worst. If you broke down in the middle of nowhere, would you be able to cope? Pack more water and food than you think you are likely to need just in case. A jerry can full of petrol/diesel in the boot wouldn’t go amiss as well, especially if you’re doing the Nullabor.
- Choose your music wisely. A long-haul drive is not the time for slow, relaxing music, as this may soothe you off to sleep, especially at the end of the day. Go for the faster and more upbeat music, or else keep your mind stimulated with a talking book.
- If you start feeling tense and achy in your neck and shoulders, sleepy, hungry or desperate for the lavatory, stop, even if you haven’t reached your planned stopping point.
- Let someone know your estimated time of arrival (approximate) and the route you’re taking so if something goes badly wrong, they’ll know when and where to start looking.
- Try not to drive long distances at night, especially if you’ve been driving most of the day. The road is even more hypnotic at night, with the constant, regular flash of the centre line and the cats-eyes and little else to look at… a sure-fire recipe for getting into a trance state.
- Better late than never. You are not in a race, so don’t try to beat the “official” time suggested by the AAA (e.g. 1 day and 16 hours non-stop for Sydney to Perth).
FBT: Post election
Now the Federal election is over and the Coalition have taken pole position, Tony Abbott’s declaration that the mooted changes to the Fringe Benefit Tax will not go ahead is now ready to be checked. And, seemingly, this is the case, according to a communique dated 3 September, four days before the election.
A letter sent to the Australian car industry, its employers and employees associated with it, appears to confirm the Coalition’s determination to not go ahead with any modifications to the Fringe Benefit Tax, as it stands; part of the letter states: “…we encourage all stakeholders, including employers and employees engaged in salary sacrifice programs, to urgently and immediately return to normal trading activity in order to repair the damage done….” and: “…we want to acknowledge the role the leasing and salary packaging industry plays in assisting with new car sales, generating demand and, therefore, generating jobs.”
With a marked and measurable slowdown in sales and yards full of cars that were ordered and cancelled, the car finance and leasing industries can look forward to a settling of the market and resume the trading levels experienced over the last couple of years. It also has to be said that the reaction of the car lease industry, with the changes not put into legislation and, for the most part, really only put forward as a change should Labor had won, could be seen as a huge overreaction and ultimately a back ended scare.
Since the change of government, car leasing firms have been rehiring people stood down prior to the election and interest in purchasing fleet vehicles has increased. Danny Wilson, from leasing company NLC said: “We started 23 people back at work this week and we’ll keep an eye on demand, and if that keeps getting stronger we’ll keep improving our staffing levels,” he said.”We saw sales start to return almost immediately after the election – even from the Monday or Tuesday.
”We’re below what we’re normally projected to be at this time but I think we’re trending towards that 75 to 80 per cent mark. In terms of the sales levels, it does take some time for those to work through your system, but in terms of our inquiry levels, we’re up to that 75 per cent mark.”
What has also come out of the change of government was this simple observation from Leigh Penberthy, the President of the Australian Salary Packaging Industry Association: ”With the Liberal government now in place, there is no new law to be passed because there were no changes made to the tax law,” he said. ”Effectively, it’s now pretty much as it was prior to July 16, and I guess the industry has got to get back on with business.”
Simple really; the expectation was that the Coalition would win plus there was no actual legislation put forward, voted upon and passed/denied by the government. Sadly, it has come at an industry cost with Falcon and Territory sales collapsing even further and this is being seen as a contributing factor to the company’s decision to close local manufacturing down. Regardless though, let’s hope it is a return to business as usual.
The Logic of Logbooks
There’s been a lot of furore about the changes to the Fringe Benefit Tax rules – what’s it going to do to the car sales industry, what it’s going to mean for companies who want to retain their employees, what it’s going to mean for the economy in general and so forth. My fellow-blogger Dave has posted quite a few very informative articles on the topic ().
However, let’s have a wee think about the small implications. Not the big ones that discuss whether or not the changes in the rules will affect what’s left of the Australian car manufacturing industry but the ones that affect what you and I will have to do if our company is going to provide us with a novated lease under the new system.
One of the key changes is that when it comes to tax time, you can’t just say that 20% of the kilometres driven were personal and the rest were for business. We’ve all got to use log books. A lot of people were already on the logbook method for cars dished out as part of a salary package. If you’re one of these people, you’re probably not going to notice a lot of difference, if any.
The idea behind the logbooks is that some people – OK, make that a lot of people – were using their cars for way more than 20% of the kilometres driven for personal business. This meant that they were paying less fringe benefit tax than they really ought to. The whole idea behind the changes was meant to close this loophole so people who weren’t on the logbook system paid a fair amount of tax.
The good news is that keeping a logbook isn’t all that hard. All you have to do is to write in the date of the trip, the purpose of the trip (which you can shorten down to “business” and “personal” rather than trying to fit in “taking Amy to Sarah’s birthday party and picking up a roll of wallpaper from the hardware store on the way back”) and the odometer reading at the end of the trip. Then you have to work out how many clicks the trip took by subtracting the odometer reading at the end of the last trip from the end of the current trip – which requires a good head for mental arithmetic or a handy cellphone with a calculator app. Most of us, however, can rely on the trip computer that most modern cars come with. This sounds fiddly, but it’s not that hard once you’re into the swing of things.
Naturally, people have already come up with smartphone apps for vehicle logbooks. Sole traders and the self-employed already have to keep logbooks, for example, so there’s been plenty of time to develop them. I guess it’s only a matter of time until someone comes up with an app that logs your trips and sends the info directly to the office bean-counters… or Big Brother.
The big thing to know is the difference between what’s considered a work trip and what is considered a personal trip. The real stinger here is that the commute to and from work is not considered to be a work or business trip – it’s a personal trip. If you took the bus to work instead of chugging along in your little Peugeot 206 hatchback or whatever you drive, you’d have to fork out for the bus fare and your employers wouldn’t have to pay your bus fare (in most cases, and we won’t go into the subsidies that some eco-minded businesses have tried here). However, if you have to visit a client, make a delivery, pick up some supplies for the office or something like that, that’s a business trip.
Logbooks aren’t all that hard, so don’t get into a panic if you have to keep one. You can still get a car as part of a salary package deal, and you can still claim some of the mileage back against tax.
Fringe Benefits Tax proposed changes: an update.
Writing this one day before the election and with the expectation the Coalition will win doesn’t change the past; much like the words from the immortal “Dragnet”, these are “just the facts”. Since the changes were announced by Kevin Rudd, this is what’s happened: approximately $160 million dollars worth of business for the Australian car industry has been wiped in August. Sales had been growing at around 5% for the six months until June 30, it’s now down by 0.2% in August compared to the same time last year. 
At around 4600 vehicles at an average cost of $35000, it’s a significant hit. Yards are holding far more ordered but unsold stock due to so many cancelled orders. Jobs have been lost in attached industries and sales are down by 3.5% in Queensland and up to 8% in Western Australia. Business purchases are down 10 percent compared to this time last year impacting further on Ford Australia’s already tattered figures, with the venerable Falcon finding just 573 new homes in August, the lowest in the nameplates 53 year history. The changes mooted were intended to help raise $1.8 billion as an offset of scrapping the carbon tax yet there’s been no formal analysis of the changes and with many buyers in business purchasing vehicles via means that don’t attract the FBT or defer purchases then that figure is seeming more unlikely.
Holden’s new Commodore, selling under internal expectations still, though, managed just 400 more in August than July, delivering 2809 vehicles. Only Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Mazda saw sales increase. Also, with fuel prices in no danger of retreating, it’s unsurprising that the Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla were the highest sellers in August (4188 and 3861), followed by the Toyota HiLux, Holden’s VF Commodore, the Hyundai i30 and Holden Cruze variants.
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